EU and Forum sign agreement to tackle gender inequality in Pacific

The European Union and the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat have signed a Financing Agreement to tackle the root causes of gender inequality and violence against women and girls in the Pacific. The more than US$15 million agreement was signed in Apia by European Union Ambassador for the Pacific, Andrew Jacobs and the Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, Dame Meg Taylor. The program will support activities at the regional level as well as in Fiji, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, the Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. The fund will be implemented over six years by UN Women, the PIF Secretariat and the Pacific Community. The Australian Government will co-fund the UN Women component of the project. Australia would also provide an additional US$5.97 million to the program, which would further strengthen the EU-Australia cooperation to support Pacific responses to gender inequality in the region.